What Is a Lead?

A lead in Leads Engine represents a single property that has triggered one or more distress signals — events that suggest the owner may be motivated to sell.

Where leads come from

Leads are generated from public data sources — the same records available at county offices, but pulled automatically and daily so you don't have to:

• County building departments — Code violations, expired permits, inspection failures
• Clerk of courts — Lis pendens filings, tax liens, mortgage recordings
• Environmental agencies — DERM enforcement actions, mandatory sewer connections
• Tax collector — Payment status, delinquency, escrow information
• Property appraiser — Owner details, property values, sales history
• 311 service requests — Neighbor complaints about a property

Each of these is a signal that something is happening with the property. A single property might have multiple signals — code violations and delinquent taxes and an expired permit — which paints a stronger picture of distress.

What "Day Zero" means

Most lead services buy data from aggregators who compile and resell public records. By the time a lead reaches you through those channels, it's typically 2–4 weeks old, and dozens of other investors already have it.

Leads Engine pulls data directly from primary sources — the original county systems where records are first created. This means you see a lead on Day Zero — the same day (or within days of) the record being filed. That's a 14–21 day head start over aggregated lists.

One property, one lead

Each lead represents a single property, identified by its folio or parcel number. Even if a property triggers multiple signals over time (say, a code violation in January and a tax delinquency in March), it's still one lead. All signals, data, and activity are consolidated into a single view so you can see the full picture.

What data is on a lead?

Every lead includes:

• Property details — Address, year built, bedrooms, bathrooms, lot size, zoning
• Owner information — Name, mailing address, absentee/resident status, out-of-state indicator
• Financial data — Market value, assessed value, equity estimate, tax status, homestead exemption
• Distress signals — All active signals with details (see Distress Signals)
• AI scoring — Five-dimension analysis with tags and summary (see AI Scoring)
• Event timeline — Chronological history of all signals detected for this property

Next steps

• Distress Signals — What each signal type means
• AI Scoring — How the AI evaluates leads